We're gonna rot some stuff. On purpose!

We are going to try one more time to grow something edible in our yard this summer. Other than tomatoes and the fruit trees, we've never had much success before. But I think I'm onto a gardening method that will work well for us. And still allow us to have a life. Just going camping for the weekend gets tricky sometimes with the amount of work it takes to keep anything alive around here in the heat of the summer.
We're going to try Square Foot Gardening. I'm so excited to get it started! Preparing the soil and planting the first seeds are on our to do list for this weekend.
For the sake of the garden, and in an attempt to be a little "greener", we are also going to start composting. I know that an open compost heap isn't what I want to have out in the backyard. So we looked at tumblers. But they're pretty spendy when we are still working so hard to get out of debt. This one is $200. After a coupon! Yikes.

So I found a frugal solution that we're going to test out this year. I got the idea from my PYP pals (where I get most of my best ideas) and from this blog.
You just take a 32 gallon trash can...

Drill a bunch of holes in the sides and bottom....

Throw in a few handfuls of dried leaves and grass clippings. Or slightly damp ones since the rain(and snow!) hasn't let up since I decided to do this.

Then throw in your kitchen scraps. This was about two gallons full of scraps that I saved up in just two days! Since we're eating healthier there are lots of fruit and veggie trimmings. I think that between composting and curbside recycling we'll be down to a grocery bag or two full of garbage each week. That's pretty cool since we used to put TWO cans out to the curb each week.

Then you put the lid on and roll it around the yard a few times. I plan to add scraps to the can each evening and give it a roll. I also need to add a bungee cord to keep the lid on while it rolls.
If summer ever comes the heat will help break all this down into happy garden goodness.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Total cost: $10
Also on the to do list this weekend: We have to rebuild our pretty pergola. This is how it looked summer before last. The wisteria was making itself at home on there. I was so excited.

And then... last Spring we had a BAD windstorm followed by a year of procrastination which resulted in this. Pretty sad, huh?

The wisteria actually budded and bloomed right there on the ground last summer. I'm hoping it will come back this year since we'll have it's home repaired.